Bonds of Friendship
by Vincent's Dark Mistress
Summary: It is known that Hawk wanted Big Time Rush to fall to it's demise. But, on the night of their first concert he takes it too far. Now the boys are terrified and Kendall is fighting for his life. Hints of Jarlos and Kogan preslash in later chapters.


"We're going to get them, no matter what it takes. Big Time Rush is going down, and I have just the plan to do the job." Hawk hissed sharply, beckoning his assistant Rebecca over with the twitch of a finger.

She complied suspiciously, sitting down on the seat next to him and looking on expectantly. "So, will this plan actually work? Clearly the boys are driven together by some sappy bond that we will never be able to break."

Hawk glanced over at Rebecca with an evil glint in his eye. Though she was all for crushing the band's dream and kicking them off of the market, Rebecca was not sure she liked the gleam of cruelty that flashed in her boss's eyes. "You're not going to hurt them are you?" she asked carefully, leaning back slightly in her chair. Hawk simply smirked and responded, "No, I don't think he'll actually feel any pain at all."

"What do you mean by that?"

Hawk ignored Rebecca's question, pulling open his desk drawer and removing an item rather quickly, tucking it away in his blazer. Rebecca looked at him sharply, straining to get a view of the suspicious item he had just tucked away. However, Hawk moved quickly from behind his desk and placed a hand on his assistant's shoulder.

"Come now, Rebecca, we're going to crash the Big Time Rush concert and give those boys a night they won't soon forget!"

* * *

"James! We go on in like two minutes, hurry up!" Kendall scolded harshly from the entrance of the dressing room, causing James to turn around and glare. Normally, Kendall would have shaken the glance off of his shoulders, but given the recent drama the band and their friendship had endured, he could not help but feel slightly hurt. "Please? This needs to be good so we can bring back Big Time Rush."

James stared at Kendall a few seconds longer, before turning around to face the mirror again. He lazily combed through his hair and sprayed a bit of his Cuda products onto it. "I'm really not in the mood for this, Kendall. I didn't even want to come back. I only did because I thought our friendship ran deeper than a lifetime of fake fame. It's going to take a while to get over the fact that you guys wanted to find a replacement for me."

"James, I know we were wrong, but we're doing this concert for _you _and now is not the time for this," Kendall warned sternly, feeling his chest constrict at the sad sigh James responded with. "We can talk about it after the concert when we bring the band back."

James stood up from his seat in front of the mirror, slamming his hairspray down on the vanity. He let out a grumble of frustration before storming to the door and pushing past Kendall violently to get to the stage.

Kendall could only stare in shock after James, feeling guilty for being the cause of his friend's distress. Yes, it was a huge problem that needed to be fixed, but first they needed to fix the band. Kendall's thoughts were interrupted when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon dude," Carlos said excitedly, pushing Kendall down the hallway towards the stage. "We're on in thirty seconds!"

Kendall smiled lightly, not feeling nearly as confident as he had only moments ago. Another hand placed itself on his opposite shoulder and he knew the touch instantly as Logan's. "Are you ready for this, Kendall? This is it!"

"I know! I'm not so sure about James, though." he replied sadly, watching as both of his friends turned their heads in the taller boy's direction. Both of their smiles faded just slightly.

"Don't worry about him. Once he starts performing in front of all those people, I think he'll forget about everything." Logan offered, giving Kendall's shoulder a squeeze. Kendall chuckled softly and nodded.

"Yeah, you're right."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Carlos exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his spot. "We've got a few more seconds left. Let's head out there!"

Logan and Kendall barely had time to respond before Carlos took a firm grip to both of their wrists and dragged them over to the curtain where James was patiently waiting.

Kendall wanted to say something motivating to James, but as he opened his mouth to speak, the curtain lifted and the sound of screams filled his ears. James quickly plastered a smile on his face and hopped out on stage, followed by Carlos, then Logan.

Kendall took a deep breath and mustered up a smile of his own, trailing out after his friends. "What's up LA?" He yelled into the microphone, causing more screams to erupt from the crowd. Suddenly, his smile was not as fake anymore.

"Before we start, we just want to thank each and every one of you for coming out tonight to see us. The support means the world to us, and we hope you enjoy the show!"

Seconds later, the lights dimmed dramatically, and the background music for "Famous" played from the speakers behind them. Kendall could feel the bass rattling through his body, and it was like a new kind of adrenaline.

He followed the steps of the dance routine that had been hammered into his brain and finally let a genuine smile come across his face as he began to sing. He stole subtle glances to his bandmates, and seeing them all dance in perfect sync with himself felt amazing.

Even if James was half a step behind at times, the proud feeling blossoming in his chest was incredible. They were really doing this, performing in front of an actual crowd, living the dreams of thousands of people in the world. They were going to make it.

With renewed confidence, Kendall stepped forward from the group and took a breath for his next line in the song.

He looked over at James, who was watching him from behind, and felt a small weight lift from his chest when he saw the hint of a genuine smile on the boy's lips. It was not much, but it was progress. With ease, he belted out the chorus of the song, feeling empowered as the voices of his friends backed him up.

He spread out his arms, curling his fingers as if to say "come on" to the crowd, and all of the girls in the front row screamed significantly louder. Satisfied, Kendall went to turn around and head back towards his friends when he heard a loud, booming sound that was clear even over the roar of the fans.

He was confused for a split second, before searing pain ripped through the lower part of his shoulder and he involuntarily dropped the microphone to the floor.

His right hand immediately flew up to his shoulder in shock, and his eyes widened to twice their size. He tried to take a deep breath to ease the pain, but the stinging of the fresh wound in his shoulder made his breath sound more like a strangled gasp.

His knees faltered and buckled, causing him to fall over and hit the stage with a thunderous "smack." It was then that he noticed blood was pooling around his body, pouring quickly from the wound in his shoulder.

Kendall tried to breathe again, but it hurt for his lungs to expand, and he felt nausea overtake his body. After another pained gasp, he opened his eyes to see the worried faces of his friends surround him.

"Kendall!" James cried desperately, looking down at his best friend worriedly. He did not have the slightest clue what he could do to help. His brain could hardly register anything other than, "Kendall. Blood. Shot. Dying."

Logan nudged James to the side gently, frantically calling Kendall's name. The wounded boy groaned weakly, and James reached out to grab his blood-soiled hand while Logan felt at Kendall's neck for his pulse.

Logan's stomach dropped when he felt how fast Kendall's pulse was thumping. He tearfully turned to Carlos, who was yelling hysterically into his phone for an ambulance, and snatched the device away from the younger boy, screaming something about "barely responsive," and "pulse is too fast," ending with "going into shock!" into the reciever.

James did not understand what "going into shock" meant, but by the way Logan choked out the words, he knew it was not good. He could hear Carlos frantically sobbing broken Spanish phrases to his left, and it was too much for the teen to handle.

He locked eyes with Kendall and felt his heart constrict in pain. Kendall's eyes were half closed and full of fear, an emotion that James had never seen the older boy expose before, and his lips were parted slightly to aid him in bringing life-giving breaths to his lungs.

Before he could stop them, James felt tears rolling down his cheeks at the sight of his best friend laying on the ground so broken and scared. He gently lifted Kendall's head into his lap and began running fingers through the older boy's hair.

"Kendall, I'm so sorry," James whispered, massaging his fingers into Kendall's head as a form of consolation. "You're my best friend, and it was stupid of me to get mad at you. I love you man, you need to hang on, please hang on...I'm so sorry..."

Kendall smiled gently through his pain, taking in a raspy breath that caused James to wince, and replied, "I-I'm sorry too, J-James, and I l-love you too."

"Shh," James cooed, his fingers nervously twitching through Kendall's sweat-soaked hair. "Save your air, Kendall. You need to breathe. Keep breathing, okay?"

Kendall did not respond, but he put more concentration into breathing so he could make James worry less. It almost hurt him more to see James, Logan, and Carlos crying over him than the pain coming from the gaping hole in his shoulder. Slowly, his eyes fluttered shut and he could hear Logan's voice frantically yelling about staying awake, but he could no longer force his eye lids to stay open.

He felt Logan's fingers press against his pulse point again, and then he was positioned against a warm chest. Voices began to mix together, sounding distorted and jarbled, and the need to sleep was clawing behind Kendall's eyes.

The voices began to fade, sounding more like dull echoes off into the distance, and the last thing he could make out was "Oh my god! He stopped breathing!" before he succumbed to the sleep his body craved.

* * *

"Hawk!" Rebecca screamed in shock, bringing a hand up to her lips. She turned to face her boss, who was quickly hiding the gun into his blazer pocket, and sneered at him. "Hawk he's just a child! How could you ever think that this was a good idea? You could have killed him!"

"Relax, Rebecca," Hawk drawled over the gasps of horror from the crowd. He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her through the sea of people until they were in a quiet, more private space. "This was neccesary. If we were ever going to bring down Big Time Rush, we never would have got there simply trying to kick them out of the market. If Knight dies, and he probably will, surely they won't continue with the band and it'll ultimately lead to their demise."

"Sir, I can't believe you would do something like this! If we worked hard enough we could have kicked them off of the market eventually. You might have just killed him and he's only sixteen years old! Does that not mean anything to you?"

Hawk scoffed loudly, giving Rebecca a look that clearly said "What does it matter?" before waving his hand dismissively. "That's buisness, Sugarplum. Sometimes extreme measures need to be taken in order to stay on top."

"I'll show you on top!"

Hawk raised an eyebrow, clearly amused, but his expression fell to that of utter seriousness when Rebecca went into her fighting stance. "Rebecca, honey, this was just a speed bump! The two of us could be on top of the world some day!"

Rebecca sneered angrily, not letting Hawk spit out one more word before lunging on top of him and giving him a good kick to the head, rendering him unconcious. She was no murderer, and she was not going to work for one either.

With a sigh, she picked up Hawk's small body and flung it over her shoulder with much force, deciding she was going to right what Hawk wronged to the best of her abiltity.

* * *

"W-we have to get to the hopsital. We have to go right now. How the hell are we going to get to the hospital? Logan we need to get there, what are we gonna do?" James sputtered frantically, grabbing at his hair and pacing back in fourth in short, quick strides. Logan took a deep breath and grabbed James' shoulder, ceasing the boy's terrified movements.

"James you need to calm down. We'll get there, okay? First we've gotta find Ms. Knight and Katie and make sure they're okay. If this was a personal attack on Kendall, then whoever did this might be after them as well."

"It was a personal attack on _us_, Logan!" James shot back, throwing an arm over Carlos' shoulders when he heard the boy start to whimper again. "Let's just hurry up and find them. We need to be there for Kendall if he wakes up."

"_When_ he wakes up, James. Don't talk like that." Carlos muttered miserably, leaning into the taller boy's chest. James sighed and patted Carlos' back soothingly, before breaking contact with him and wiping away his own tears.

Logan nodded at the both of them and started off towards the concession area where he knew Ms. Knight and Katie had been before the concert started. James reluctantly followed, grabbing Carlos' wrist and dragging him along with them as well.

By now, security had gotten most of the people out of the building, but to those who still remained inside, it was heartbreaking to see the three boys covered in their best friend's blood trudging miserably through the arena. It was only moments later that Freight Train stepped in front of Logan and ceased their movements.

"Boys, Gustavo wants all of you out of here right now in case that shooter comes back. Kendall's mom and little sister were escorted outside and I'll bring you to them."

Logan looked up at Freight Train sadly, nodding half-heartedly as if he had hardly even heard anything at all. They all safely piled behind their security guard and let him usher them out of the arena.

"Oh my god! Boys!" Ms. Knight screamed only moments after the three of them made it outside. She ran over to them and latched onto Logan, holding him tight while she sobbed into his shoulder. Logan felt tears build up behind his eyes again, and hugged Ms. Knight back with all of the force he could muster.

James and Carlos exchanged heartbroken glances before awkwardly joining into the hug and consoling the woman they all saw as their mother. Slowly, James pulled back from the hug and very gently pulled Carlos with him, clearing his throat nervously.

"Uhm, we should probably get to the hospital."

Ms. Knight nodded slowly, and pulled away from Logan to dry her tears and grab her car keys from her purse. James was just about to start walking towards her van when he felt a tiny hand grab his own. Shocked, he looked down, and his heart instantly shattered to millions of little tiny pieces.

Katie's big, brown eyes were full of anger, confusion, hate, and sadness. She squeezed his hand and softened her gaze just long enough to choke out a weak "James?"

At that moment, all of James' tears came back. He reached down and picked the smaller girl up from the ground, holding onto her tightly. She rested her head comfortably on his shoulder as he carried her to the car, laying multiple kisses down on her forehead.

When they all got to the car, Logan insisted he drive to give Ms. Knight a break. She gratefully took his offer and crawled into the passenger seat, sobbing louder than she had been before. Logan jumped into the driver's side of the van and started it, reaching over to grab Ms. Knight's hand in the process.

Carlos was the next one to get in the van, his head down and his chest shaking slightly with his ragged breaths. The tears had stopped momentarily, but his eyes were empty as he gazed out of the window.

James crawled into the van last, carefully hoisting himself and Katie into the back seat. The younger girl wrapped her arms around his torso and plastered her head to his chest, letting a few tears leak out.

Once Logan saw that everyone had piled in, he put the van into drive and quickly sped off to the highway. His hand never left Ms. Knight's.

Seconds after the van began to move, James heard Katie's breaths become a little more ragged and he tightened his grip on her, afraid to look down and see if she was actually crying. His suspicions were confirmed, however, when he felt a damp spot on his chest as her tears soaked through his shirt.

"Oh, Katie." he whispered gently, resting his cheek on top of her head while rubbing her back softly. She sniffled loudly, before pulling back slightly from James' grasp and meeting his eyes.

"I thought I'd be okay, but Kendall isn't here. He's not with you guys."

James was taken back for moment, unsure of what to say. He was never the best with words, so he reached up and slid his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away all of the tears that had fallen. "It'll be okay, Katie. Kendall is a strong guy, and he won't give up without a fight."

"Yeah, but he was shot near his heart, James. What if it hit his heart? What if they can't do anything?"

"Katie, shh," James cooed, positioning her head back against his chest. She sighed lightly and closed her eyes. "He didn't get shot in the chest, I saw it. It was the lower part of his shoulder. There's no way this could kill him, he's too strong for that. Try not to worry sweetheart, okay?"

Katie nodded and nuzzled her head comfortably into James' chest. Aside from her mother's light sobs from the front of the van, there was a complete silence between the five of them. She could hear James' heart thumping quickly but steadily and opted to pay close attention to the soothing sound, hoping that it would help ease her anxiety.

She briefly remembered all of the times she used to crawl into Kendall's room at night after she had woken up from a bad dream, and the sound of his heartbeat always sent her into a peaceful sleep every single time. Now she was not even sure if her brother's heart was still beating. However, she was not going to let those thoughts pass through her brain.

James' heart WAS beating, that was a fact she was sure of, and she was determined to be comforted and relaxed by it no matter what it took. If she listened hard enough, James' heart sounded almost like Kendall's, only quicker, and that thought alone was enough to let a feeling of peace settle over her even if only for a moment, and she was able to block out everything else.

Once James felt Katie relax slightly in his arms, he let out a quiet breath. He could not even imagine the type of pain the younger girl must have been in at that moment, but he was glad to have been a help in calming her. He pressed one last kiss to her forehead, before resting his head against the cool glass of the van window.

He could hear Logan desperately whispering words of consolation to Ms. Knight, phrases such as "I'm here for you, Ms. Knight." and "Kendall is strong, I know he'll make it through this. We all will." all to which Ms. Knight simply responded, "I love you so much, Logan."

James let his eyes flutter shut, but the second that darkness clouded his vision, his brain projected images of Kendall collapsing on stage, the blood spraying all over the floor and pooling around his best friend's body. He could hear Kendall's every gasping breath, and could clearly see the fear evident in his bright green eyes. The images were so vivid, it made James' chest clench and caused him to audibly gasp.

Within a few moments, he felt a warm hand grab his own, and his eyes flew open in terror, hazel meeting chocolate brown. Carlos had crawled over the middle section of seats and was kneeling on the floor in front of James and Katie, holding James' hand like it was his lifeline.

"You're keeping me together, James. Please don't break yet. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. We'll be at the hospital soon."

"I'm so scared, Carlos."

The younger boy flinched slightly, and tears collected in his eyes once more, gently spilling out from his eyes and trailing down his cheeks slowly. He gave James' hand a squeeze, offering the taller boy an encouraging nod. "I am too, James. I feel like I can't even breathe."

James frowned at Carlos' answer, and looked down to Katie on his chest. He moved her over slightly, making room for Carlos to comfortably rest on his chest as well.

Carlos mustered up an appreciative half-smile and lifted himself onto the seat, resting his head against the empty space that had been cleared for him on his friend's chest, and closed his eyes.

"You know, in the last moments I spent with Kendall...we were fighting. I told him I didn't forgive you guys yet, and I was just so rude to him. I bet you he went down thinking I hated him." James confessed, clearing his throat to remove the auidble waver in his voice. Carlos only hummed in response, before a few more tears slipped out of his eyes.

"Its okay. I don't think Kendall would feel like that. He knows you care about him." Carlos finally replied after a while, sounding slightly guilty himself. James swallowed and detached his fingers from Carlos' grip, using his newly freed hand to run down the younger boy's back. "I hope so, Carlos."

Before Carlos could respond, the van's movement slowed to a stop and Logan informed them of their arrival to the hospital.

James grunted lowly, nudging Carlos off of his chest so he could carry Katie out of the car. They all met outside of the driver's side door for a better-constructed group hug, before heading into the hospital with high hopes for their best friend, brother, and son.


End file.
